Russia said on Sunday that the United States was responsible for a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-annexed Crimea that killed four people, including two children, and injured more than 100.
Russian-appointed officials said a missile exploded over the beach area of the city of Sevastopol, sending shrapnel falling on people relaxing there.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Washington and Kiev were “responsible for the deliberate missile attack on peaceful residents”, for which they used US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozzhayev initially said in a Telegram video that three children and two adults were killed and about 120 people were injured in the attack.
He later revised the death toll, saying four people were killed and 151 required medical care, of whom 82 were hospitalised.
Razvozzhayev reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had called to “express his condolences”.
The Black Sea port city and naval base on the Crimean peninsula was taken over by Russia in 2014 but is still internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
Sevastopol is frequently shelled by Ukraine, but Sunday’s attack was unusually deadly. Razvozzhayev said the attack took place in Uchkuyevka, an area with sandy beaches and hotels.
Videos posted on social media showed people running from the beach after the blast and men in swimming suits carrying stretchers. AFP could not confirm their authenticity.
CHP Sevastopol, a local news channel on Telegram, quoted eyewitnesses as saying that an elderly woman died while swimming in the sea.
Washington said in April it had delivered the long-range ATACMS missile system to Kiev, which has long been urging its allies for weapons that would allow it to strike Russia beyond the front lines.
Neither the United States nor Ukraine commented on the Sevastopol attack.
‘Terrorist act’
The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was launching an inquiry into a “terrorist act”.
The governor said Ukraine had fired five missiles that were intercepted by Russian air defence forces over the sea, but fragments fell on the coast, injuring people.
Razvozzhayev said shrapnel fell on coastal areas north of the city and a house and a forest caught fire.
A Russian Defense Ministry statement said Ukraine had “launched a terrorist attack on the civilian infrastructure of Sevastopol with US-supplied ATACMS tactical missiles loaded with cluster warheads.”
The ministry said four missiles were shot down, but a fifth missile changed its course after being intercepted, “with its warhead exploding in the air over the city.”
It added that “all flight missions for the US ATACMS are recorded by US experts based on the US’s own satellite survey data.”
“Such actions will not go unpunished,” the ministry said.
The Ukrainian military has not commented on the attack, which came a day after a Russian-directed bomb attack on an apartment building in the city of Kharkiv killed two people and injured more than 50.
Deaths in Belgorod, Russia
Russian strikes on Sunday targeted a home and a children’s educational institution in Kharkiv, killing one person and wounding 10 people, including two teenagers, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said.
Three Ukrainian attack drones struck the village of Graivoron near the Ukrainian border in the Belgorod region on Sunday, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, with one hitting a car park near a high-rise flat.
“A peaceful citizen was killed. The man died on the scene,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram, and three people were injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post on social media urged supportive countries to help Ukraine respond to increased attacks on Russian soil.
“We have sufficient determination to destroy terrorists on their territory — and that is only fair — and we need the same determination from our partners. We can deter Russia,” Zelensky wrote.
In his evening address he said: “The recent approval of attacks on Russian territory – near the border – has made it possible to destroy a part of Russia’s terrorist potential.”
But, he added, “we need more long-range weapons, we need weapons suitable for the Ukrainians”.
Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo has announced that power supplies will be disrupted across the country on Monday due to increased Russian attacks on power plants.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
